By Rainy Adkins
Farmers across the San Luis Valley who maintain fields with center-pivot sprinklers and sun-faded tractors wake up every morning with a view of blue mountains and a hard job, and they love it despite the consequences it might have on the environment.
“Farming’s in their blood,” said Riley Kern, the fix-it-all technician and only year-round employee of Rockey Farms, as he leaned against a doorframe in a bare-bones breakroom accented with a refrigerator from the ‘50s.
At first glance, for those who are passing through the valley, one might only notice the ramshackle houses, junkyards full of cars and trash, and sleepy storefronts sparingly placed between wide grasslands and dry looking farms. These farms are full of life. Some families have been farming their land for generations, and most don’t want to give that up. But climate change is threatening their future.
The valley is running its water resources dry. Some farmers recognize this looming future and have taken action to minimize their water use by growing crops that demand less water and pumping less water from their personal wells, but few have yet to change their practices.
A love for farming manifests itself in some as a traditionalist desire to maintain old systems. For instance, General Manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, Cleave Simpson has noticed some farmers not participating in community organizing to preserve groundwater in the valley.
“There are still people in full denial,” Simpson said.
He described how the farmers who aren’t feeling the effects of less water are unlikely to get behind actions to conserve water. Community-based action has created subdistricts in the valley, which initiated a fee for each acre-foot of water used in farming. For 2020 the subdistrict has agreed to move the fee up to $150 per acre-foot, a fee meant to incentivize people to use less water. Simpson said that he’s already been informed of a lawsuit that will be brought against the RGWCD with the increase in price, and is sure that there will be protesting outside of his office.
Resistance to change despite the apparent water crisis could lie in the traditional values of the valley. The subdistrict provides two fallow programs, one 4 years, and one 15 years, where a farmer could be paid to not farm a section of their land, in order to save water and allow to soil to recover. Neither of these programs has had much success.
“Guys want to farm,” said Sheldon Rockey, co-owner and operator of Rockey Farms, proposing a reason to why these fallow programs have had little retention.
If it’s a love for farming that deters folks from participating, they could at least switch to crops that demand less water, right? While some like Rockey Farms have veered away from raising alfalfa and barley, crops that need a lot of water, others continue to grow these crops. There are better options. Hemp, quinoa, and potatoes are all crops that are more viable in drought-like conditions, potato researcher with the San Luis Valley Research Center (SVRC), Samuel Essah said.
Essah has also been trying to find a variety of potato that uses less water. Only 60% of potato farmers have adopted this more efficient variety, Essah said. That leaves 40% that have yet to adapt to more efficient options.
Farmers aren’t the only community in the valley that is resistant to adapting to a changing climate. Jerry Mallett, a resident of the Sangre De Christo mountain range outside of Salida, was recently evacuated from his house due to an encroaching wildfire. Mallett, as the founder of Colorado Headwaters, a non-profit watershed protection organization, recognizes that climate change is happening and that wildfires are “gonna be a part of our lifestyle.” He knew before he moved into the area that it was a fire zone, but his wife wanted the view.
“I can see five 14,000 peaks,” Mallett said, from his porch. To cut down on fire danger he cleared 45 trees from his 3-acre property, but he still knows that he’s really running the risks.
With the recent Decker fire that engulfed the peak above his home, Mallett and his wife got a call at 2 am that they should evacuate the neighborhood.
“We put a lot of effort into this house. I was optimistic that the agencies would save us,” Mallet said. Even with clear signs of climate change, and the knowledge that fires are bound to keep getting bigger Mallett still remains in his home, which is in a designated red fire danger zone according to the United States Forest Service.
A clear population in the San Luis Valley have not yet changed their lives to fit the changing climate. But some have.
Rockey Farms grows crops that need less water. They use green manure to make the soil healthy while also keeping costs and water use down in fallowed lands. They’ve cut their water usage in half. Even with all that Rockey Farms is doing to help reduce water stress in the valley, they need the rest of the community to help.
“It’s important what we’re doing but… if our neighbors don’t change it’s not gonna matter,” Rockey said.
If people don’t change their habits Rockey worries about the future of the valley. He wants his daughters to be able to farm this land when they grow up. Rockey recalled moving away for college then being called back to his dad’s farm. He wants others in the valley to adopt better water usage practices so his farm can live on and his daughters can follow in his footsteps.
